


Whale Song

by myid_letmeshowittoyou



Series: And a Star to Steer Her By [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Nonnies Made Me Do It, Space Opera, Space Whales, live-ships, sentient ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-04 12:04:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myid_letmeshowittoyou/pseuds/myid_letmeshowittoyou
Summary: The prompt asked for 'Space Whales'An alien live-ship, her captain, and her daughter find themselves in the midst of a pod of space whales.Originally posted here: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/344797.html?thread=2018694877#cmt2018694877This part of the ongoing series is clean.  I'm still working on the smut fest that is part 2.





	Whale Song

Shehareen drifts silently in deep space, working her way through potential fixes for her damaged engines while she waits for Luca to wake. Every so often she checks in on him, but his mind is full of strange thoughts about crowds of other humans, and the shame of being naked whilst trying to speak important truths to them.

She's pretty sure it's not natural to spend almost a third of one's life dormant, thinking nonsense, but on the two occasions she's attempted to _fix_ the problem her pretty little captain began to perceive things that were definitely not there; she hasn't tried again since.

She doesn't even have Imrys to keep her company: her daughter vanished off into deep space at clock-over, to do whatever it is that adolescent live-ships do to amuse themselves in this galaxy.

Thrumming softly, she directs more processing power to the issue with the engines. Which is probably why she has little warning when Imrys slams into her docking bay at almost full speed, knocking her off her axis in the process.

_Mother, we have to leave right now!_

Trying to regain her equilibrium, Shehareen shudders her docking bay doors closed and asks, _What, why?_

_Those things! I didn't do anything, they just started following me, I didn't mean to!_

"The crap is going on out there?" Luca's physical voice might be too quiet to carry, but his mental voice is clear in both their minds - if still a little sleep-fogged around the edges.

_The things it wasn't me I swear they just started chasing me! I didn't do anything! Mother, we have to go!_

Shehareen runs over her sensory data and finally perceives the beings that startled her daughter. An involuntary tremor runs through her: in this galaxy of tiny creatures she's almost forgotten what it is to feel small. The vast monsters gliding towards them must be fifty times her size, though they seem to grow larger still as they approach, slowly emerging from the star cloud that hid them from her sight. Long, streamlined, they move through deep space with an easy, ponderous grace, the shimmering brightness that patterns their hides coruscating and flickering in endless fractals of light. Just one of their massive limbs could crush her effortlessly. They might not even notice her destruction. 

She powers up, her heart thudding through her biosphere, hoping her damaged engines can find the necessary speed in time.

"Whales..." Luca breathes, practically vibrating with delight. "Reenie, can you get closer?"

 _Closer?!_ Imrys squawks, clearly of the opinion that her step-father has lost his damned mind, but Luca's sheer glee already has Shehareen powering down. No need to risk blowing one of their few functioning power cells if these behemoths are harmless. Now that she has a name she shuffles through the memory banks she has from this galaxy. She finds two entries for 'whales': one for a sea mammal from Old Earth, the planet of origin for Luca's species; the other a gigantic, barely studied creature that inhabits deep space, browsing the vast clouds of interstellar gas. The information there is too scant to be of help.

"Don't worry, they're harmless," Luca says. "They even save stranded ships if they find them."

Shehareen digests that for a moment, watching the massive creatures, thinking of the time she spent drifting after the wormhole, before Luca joined her. If one of these _whales_ had found her she'd have had no explanation for what was happening. She shudders involuntarily at the thought. Shudders more as one of the great beings hums a noise that seems to shake the fabric of space itself and breaks off from the pod to come investigate her.

"It's a good omen, Shehareen. We're lucky."

The whale seems to recognise her fear. It pauses, uttering a noise like a star vanishing into a black-hole and peering at her through one huge eye. Another one joins it, this one smaller, seemingly shy - it peeps out from under the larger one's flipper as if it fears her, as foolish as that is. It reminds her strangely of her daughter; perhaps a child?

The small one nudges a little closer, less intimidating than its parent, and Shehareen finds herself leaning forwards just enough to _pretend_ she isn't afraid. The small one closes the distance, and for the briefest moment the tip of its velvety nose touches the tip of her bow, more gentle than she could have imagined such a gargantuan creature capable of, before it turns and dashes away as though it's done something daring.

"Oh, makers, we touched a whale. Reenie, we touched a whale!"

 _I am aware,_ she murmurs. But his mood is contagious. She purrs softly as the larger one touches her bow too, wanting to make a show of being unafraid and friendly. The coruscating lights of its hide shift through more colours as it takes her in, and she knows she still makes a sorry sight despite all of Luca's hard work. Repairs take time, especially when you only have one tiny crew-member.

"I think it can tell how injured you are..." Luca says. She can feel him moving inside her, steadily making his way up to the view-screen in her helm, clearly of a mind to use his own eyes instead of his mental connection to her sensor array. In her moment of distraction the whale takes her by surprise, nudging at her flank gently but firmly, pushing her towards the pod.

In her docking bay, Imrys screams: _I told you to run! We should have run!_

"I think we're being rescued."

 _We don't need rescuing!_ Imrys wails, voicing the same opinion as Shehareen, if a little over-dramatically.

"They don't know that; they just know your mother's injured and we're a long way from any habitated space. They have no way of knowing we came out this far deliberately... I say we go with them."

 _Mother,_ Imrys says, exasperated, _have you been trying to fix Luca's dormancy problem again?_

 _I have most certainly not._ Shehareen contemplates her captain's words. The whale is taking them in the direction they planned to head after their time in deep space, and it means using little engine power for the journey. _My love, are you certain we will be able to escape them should we need?_

"They're trying to help, not take us prisoner." He's reached the vast viewing screen and is pressing his whole body against it, as if doing so can get him even closer to the behemoths outside. "Look at them, Reenie. Never thought I'd see one, let alone get to touch one."

The whale manouvres them carefully into the middle of the pod, protected from any outside threat, and allows another to take over the gentle push as the lead whale begins to sing; the others join in with the haunting melody that seems to ripple through the edges of reality. The glowing lights around them change slightly as the whales harmonise their flares with their song, soft pulses and whirls dancing with the music. 

Deep inside her, Shehareen feels Luca's utter joy and allows it to wash over her as they're propelled forwards, surrounded by ancient giants who swim through greater depths of space than the fragile beings who make up 'civilisation' could ever dream of.

She finds she no longer minds where this journey takes them.


End file.
